Tornadoes' Toll Up To 20 Dead In 3 States

Administrators at a high school where eight students died in a tornado were warned about severe weather nearly three hours before the twister struck, raising questions Friday about whether classes should have been dismissed earlier.

The students were among 20 people killed Thursday in Alabama, Georgia and Missouri by tornadoes contained in a line of thunderstorms that stretched from Minnesota to the Gulf Coast. The storms damaged or destroyed hundreds of homes, toppled trees and knocked down power lines. In Enterprise, a town of 22,000 people, more than 50 people were hurt.

Residents of the neighborhood surrounding Enterprise High School said they heard warning sirens long before the tornado slammed into the building, crushing the victims in an avalanche of concrete and metal.

"It came real fast, but they had plenty of time to get those kids out because sirens were going off all morning," said Pearl Green, whose 15-year-old niece attends the school and was hit in the head by a flying brick.

But school officials said they had no chance to evacuate earlier because of the approaching severe weather. Others said the carnage would have been greater if students had been outside or on the road when the storm hit.

The eight students died in what was supposed to be the school's safe place, reports CBS News correspondent Mark Strassmann. Officials insist they did the right thing – the only thing they could.

"We all knew the plan. We all followed the plan. The plan was the best it could be. We kept as many kids safe as we could possibly could," said English teacher Beverly Thompson. "This was an act of god."

Gov. Bob Riley defended administrators' actions after a tour of the school.

"I don't know of anything they didn't do," Riley said after stepping out of the collapsed hallway where the students died. "If I had been there, I hope I would have done as well as they did."

The last of the bodies were removed Friday.

As the massive storm system swept into Georgia, another tornado apparently touched down near the Sumter Regional Hospital in Americus, 117 miles south of Atlanta, blowing out the windows, tossing cars into trees and killing at least two people, said Buzz Weiss of the Georgia Emergency Management Agency.

Doctors, nurses and volunteers had worked into the night to evacuate dozens of patients.

"It was controlled chaos," said Dr. Tim Powell, an anesthesiologist.

Six more people were killed in the town of Newton, Ga., including a child, and several homes were destroyed, Fire Chief Andy Belinc said early Friday.

Because there are no sirens in Newton, residents tried to warn their neighbors by phone, reports CBS News correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi.

"We started calling people waking them up and alerting them that's there's a tornado headed this way," Flossie Anderson said.

"It's just a blessing, frankly, that we didn't have more fatalities than we did," Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue said after viewing the damage Friday. He declared a state of emergency in six counties, clearing the way for state aid.

The tornadoes were the second to devastate a portion of the South this year. In early February, tornadoes ripped through a 30-mile path in central Florida, killing 21 and destroying hundreds of homes and businesses.

The twisters hit as a deadly winter storm walloped parts of the Plains and Midwest, keeping highways and schools closed, knocking out power and piling up huge snow drifts Friday.

At least six winter storm-related deaths have been reported in the region since the snowfall began Wednesday. Blizzard conditions shut down roads in Iowa, Nebraska and Minnesota, leaving some areas with well over a foot of snow by Friday morning.

Chicago's O'Hare International Airport had two-hour delays at midday Friday.

President Bush planned to visit two of the tornado-damaged areas Saturday. The destinations were still being worked out Friday with governors in the affected states.